ICE agents have reportedly claimed to be police officers to gain consent to enter a person’s home – a tactic that is viewed as unethical, but within the powers granted to the officers. Civil rights groups supported Kalra’s bill, looking to stymie the Trump administration’s promise to use any and all available tools to deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Many groups fear Trump will expand deportations to include all undocumented immigrants, their families and relatives.   read more

Newark is a fairly safe Silicon Valley community by conventional standards, but statistics don’t necessarily correlate with risk aversive fear factors. Newark Unified Superintendent Dave Marken told the Contra Costa Times, “Unfortunately, we have an increase in deranged individuals who go into campuses, churches, malls and theaters with one thing in mind: to create as much carnage as possible.”   read more

Late last year, the data-driven policy analysis organization launched the Open Records Initiative, an attempt to accumulate local, state and federal government data in accessible formats at a central location. The site has been seeded with nearly 71,000 documents, which is expected to double by year’s end. But the exponential growth needed to make this effort meaningful relies on crowd-sourcing.   read more

The problem is water. It shouldn't be sloshing about in spaces around the rods. At first, the dampness was blamed on poor grouting, rainwater or wash water from above. That's not good, but not as bad as corrosive saltwater leaking in through the foundation cap below. It causes microcracks and makes steel rods brittle. Almost all of the rods have gotten wet and a fourth of them regularly get soaked.   read more

There is a law against shining a laser pointer at an aircraft. Rodriguez didn't contest his conviction for breaking that law. He was appealing his additional conviction for violating a law Judge Silverman described as being “designed for both the Osama bin Ladens of the world—people trying to bring down a plane, intending to cause harm—and those who are aware that their actions are dangerous and could harm others, but just don't care.”   read more

Introduced in the U.S. in 1898, the ballot initiative was a response by progressives to the view that state legislatures were in the pocket of powerful corporate interests. But the ballot measure, it would seem, has now been hijacked by big-money interests for the benefit of big business. During the 2014 election, these special interests and election professionals were collectively paid at least $400 million for 85 statewide measures. And that’s during an “off year.”   read more

It's the eighth death, seven in the U.S. and one in Malaysia. More than 100 injuries have been reported, but there is little doubt that there are, and will be, more. The problem has existed for more than a decade, but only received attention in the last year, as recalls hit 34 million. A report from Senate Democrats said, "Takata may have prioritized profit over safety by halting global safety audits for financial reasons.”   read more

After years of measuring contaminants using decades-old, pre-fracking standards that looked for naturally-occurring contaminants, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered Chevron in April to conduct new tests. A report on those tests was turned in last week and showed petroleum hydrocarbons, acetone, an industrial solvent, and trace amounts of benzene, a carcinogen.   read more

At one point in the video, an officer is heard expressing a desire to kick passive Sky High collective member Marla James, an amputee in a wheelchair, “in her fucking nub.” The cops may have mellowed a bit by the end of the raid, judging by the number of marijuana edibles they consumed.   read more

The San Jose Mercury News took a look at water usage in two Bay Area communities, separated by just 24 miles but light years apart in financial resources. The average person in the affluent Contra Costa County community of Diablo uses 345 gallons of water a day, nearly seven times the amount of a working-class Alameda County resident in San Lorenzo.   read more

The system of government reserves was established in the 1930s to stabilize a broken market and provide price supports. It has seemingly worked for decades and most growers reportedly like the system. Marvin D. and Laura Horne do not and refused to participate. The Hornes said the government violated the Fifth Amendment by “taking” their property without just compensation and sued.   read more

Plaintiffs claim that the company has known that their drinks breached the safety level. When Proposition 65 was passed in California, Pepsi gave the public the impression it had complied with the new chemical requirement when, in fact, it had not. The soft drink maker intentionally misled the public, said the complaint. The lawsuit also argues that many consumers drink more than one 12-ounce serving of Pepsi a day, putting them at an even greater risk from unhealthy exposure to the chemical.   read more

The pope said, "This system seems to provide a quick and easy solution under the guise of a certain commitment to the environment, but in no way does it allow for the radical change which present circumstances require. Rather, it may simply become a ploy which permits maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.”   read more

Butte Creek is (was) home to the biggest of three remaining wild populations of adult salmon in the Central Valley―2,000 strong. In 2012, writing in its own publication about efforts to count salmon in Butte Creek, PG&E noted a warning from Clint Garmon, director of California’s Department of Fish and Game: “There’s lots of different stakeholders that have interest in seeing these fish do well, and PG&E is as big a part of that as all the other stakeholders involved.”   read more

The national sweep, conducted by the DOJ and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), covered 17 states. Charges included conspiracy to commit health care fraud, violations of the anti-kickback statutes, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. More than 40 people were charged with fraud related to the Medicare’s Part D prescription drug benefit program.   read more

“This is unprecedented in terms of the extent and magnitude of this harmful algal bloom and the warm water conditions we’re seeing offshore,” according to Vera Trainer, manager of the Marine Microbes and Toxins Program at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) in Seattle. The algae produce toxins which are ingested by feeding shellfish, sardines, anchovies and other plankton-loving fish.   read more

The auditor suggested that the Bar might have devoted more resources to disciplining its members if it hadn’t spent $76.6 million in 2012 to purchase and renovate a building in Los Angeles. She said the Bar was not very transparent about its maneuvers, and “underestimated the total cost by more than $50 million” in an April 2012 report to the Legislature.   read more